


Absolute Nonsense

by ElisaPhoenix



Series: A Tevinter Altus and his Pseudo Sister [9]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-01-20 14:45:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18527188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElisaPhoenix/pseuds/ElisaPhoenix
Summary: Just random drabbles with Dorian and Elisa. Maybe FF7 family in the future.





	1. Berserk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elisa's fear is Dorian's motivation.

The sound of dripping water was all that filled the silence of their shared cell. At first it was unnoticeable, but Dorian eventually took note of it when the silence became stifling. He, the Inquisitor, and Cassandra had been taken by surprise by a large group of bandits and then taken to their camp and thrown into cells. All but his sister that is. Elisa was taken somewhere separate and none of them had any idea if she was okay.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

The Tevinter’s eyebrow twitches in annoyance with each drip, and the third put a scowl on his face.

“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do Dorian?”  
Dorian directs his foul mood to the Seeker and then noisily shakes the manacles binding his wrists. “These are suppressing my magic _Seeker_. They are not my idea of an accessory!” He gives off what little magic he can and it couldn’t even really be called magic. Sparks fall to the dirt floor and all three watch quietly as they extinguish.  
“I would have thought you were strong enough to bypass the enchantment.” Cassandra says with a frown, and Dorian glares at her.  
“I am _so sorry_ for disappointing you.”  
“That is not what I meant!”

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

The mage swears loudly in Tevene until one of the guards bangs on the door and yells at him to be quiet. Dorian continues his swearing under his breath and Nolan looks at him with mild amusement.

“I just know how you are when Lady Umbra is involved. Especially when she could be in danger.”

More sparks jump from the Altus’s fingers and both Nolan and Cassandra exchange looks when the magic goes unnoticed by Dorian. His protectiveness over his adopted sister did in fact strengthen his magic, but it appeared the mage wasn’t aware of it. The Inquisitor quickly caught on to what Cassandra was attempting.

“The poor thing could be subjected to torture.” Sparks turns into flames. “Flogging…lashing…”

Nolan’s heart drops to his stomach when a terrified scream echoes through the room, but it was the final push Dorian needed. The mage sends a large fireball at the wooden door, burning a large enough hole for the Inquisitor to squeeze through. Nolan does just that, knocks out the guard standing in shock by the door, and swipes the keys off his belt to properly open the cell door. Cassandra runs past him in search of their weapons as Nolan unlocks then manacles on Dorian, and the three meet up at the door to arm themselves once again. Now their top priority was to rescue their youngest, and they had a furious mage to open a path for the other two. Normally Cassandra was the one to cut them said path, but even they knew not to get between Dorian and Elisa if one of them was even in _potential_ danger. So the mage was the one to lead them to the room the ravenette was being held in. They hardly came across any bandits, and when they entered the room Elisa was being kept hostage in, they quickly learned the reason.

The young warrior had gone berserk.

Crimson eyes glowed in rage as Elisa ruthlessly cut down every single bandit, and when they were all dead…she turned on Cassandra. The Seeker blocks Elisa’s attack with her shield while Dorian carefully steps closer with his hands out in an effort to calm her.

“Sorora! It’s alright! You are safe now!”

Elisa ignores him and continues her assault on the Seeker who does nothing but defend herself. Nolan was standing a few feet away so he wouldn’t crowd Elisa, but also close enough in case he was needed. Dorian would be the only one to calm her since this had never happened before.

“Do something quick Tevinter! She is not tiring!”  
Since words didn’t seem to be helping, Dorian moves behind her with a spell quite literally on hand, and uses the hand to reach around and cover her eyes. “Satis.”

Dorian’s spell took effect almost immediately. Elisa slowly eases off Cassandra’s shield and the Seeker cautiously steps away from the mage and his young charge. After a few moments of tense silence, the youngest slowly turns in Dorian’s grip and rests her forehead over his heart. That was enough proof that something scared her, but the mage had no idea what. Elisa had unfortunately been tortured before, but she had never reacted like this before.

“I’m sorry.” Elisa whispers into Dorian’s shoulder, and the man gently cups the back of her head.  
“What happened?” Nolan ignores his lover’s glare when the ravenette points past Dorian, and the Inquisitor looks around the pair to find a table with leather straps. “They strapped you to the table?”

Dorian turns his head sharply to look at the blood stained table and hugs Elisa closer to him. It answered his previous question to her sudden reaction. Being strapped to a table would have reminded Elisa of the torture she endured with the scientist, based on stories she told him, and now she was scared and hurting.

“You’re safe.”  
“We should return to Skyhold. We’ve done enough for now and we can all use some rest.” Cassandra says.  
“I agree. Let’s head home.” Nolan heads toward the door and Cassandra follows him out.  
“Come,” Dorian mutters to the girl in his arms. “When we get back, I’ll make you some warm chocolate and you can lie down. Take all the time you need.”  
“I should apologize to Cassandra.”  
“I’m sure she understands, but do whatever you need.”

Elisa nods against him before pulling away.

“How did you calm me down?”  
Dorian smiles. “I tweaked a sleeping spell so it would only calm you. We couldn’t very well carry you everywhere.”  
“Well…warm chocolate sound great.”  
“Then we better catch up with the other two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Satis--Enough


	2. Hyper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dorian deals with Dalish's idea of a relaxed sister.

It was like any other day. Dorian was standing at his table, quietly doing the research that the Inquisitor asked him to look into…when it happened. An unexplainable shiver ran up his spine and it was surprising enough that the mage actually stopped his task to look around his section of the library. Everyone and everything seemed to be normal. Any visitors to Skyhold that happened to be in the library were being quiet, and the ravens were as noisy as they were on a typical day.

Then came the sudden urge to brace himself. Dorian listens to his instincts and plants his hands on the table in front of him just as a body glomps onto his back, and a surprised grunt escapes him when arms and legs wrap around him. The fact that someone would do this in the first place had the necromancer’s head spinning, and when he finally looked over his shoulder to identify his leech, his mind drew a blank.

Crimson eyes stare into his silver ones with glee.

“Hi Dorian!”  
“I…I don’t know how to deal with this.”  
“I was drinking with Iron Bull and the Chargers…”

Then the incessant chattering started. Elisa hardly spoke two sentences at a time and here she was regaling any tale she could think of. It was so out of character that it drew the attention of everyone nearby, and even Leliana came from the rookery above to see who was breaking the rule of quiet. So not only was his sister talking non-stop, she was also attached to his back. It earned a few giggles from her spectators.

“…and Dalish gave me a potion that is supposed to help me relax. Iron Bull said it was safe so I figured why not? If something bad happens, you’ll fix it! Then I _had_ to tell—”  
Dorian shushes her. “A potion? To help you relax?”

From Dalish. Who was definitely _not_ an apostate.

Dorian sighs heavily when Elisa starts her prattling again, and then not-so-gently pries the girl off his back, who then falls on her rear with an ‘oof’. Having his little sister this outgoing was rubbing Dorian the wrong way. He enjoyed her company because she was quiet, helpful, and only a little bit sassy because of yours truly. If she stayed like this, he would hate to imagine what bedtime would be like.

“…and they said they didn’t believe me when I said you only snore when you’re _really_ tired—”  
Dorian glares down at the girl as she wraps herself around one of his legs. “I _do not_ snore!”  
“Do too!”  
Laughter from the top of the stairs distracts Dorian from his sister and he looks up to find Nolan biting his lip in an attempt to stifle his laughter. “Another spell gone wrong?”  
“No!” Dorian attempts (and fails) to free his leg from Elisa’s hold. “I’m going to kill Dalish!”  
“Should I ask Vivienne to make an antidote?”  
“That would be wonderful Amatus. This is disturbing.”

Nolan walks through the doorway leading to Vivienne’s balcony, and Dorian returns his attention to the girl latched on his leg. She was still talking. Apparently his conversation with the Inquisitor didn’t dissuade her own one-sided conversation, and the fact that she was even talking so much was giving the mage a stress headache. He hoped Madame de Fer would be able to make the antidote because he wanted his quiet sister back.

That thought gave him an idea.

“Sorora…do you hear that?”  
Elisa stops mid-sentence and looks up at him quizzically. “Hear what?”  
“Exactly. You can’t relax if you’re always talking…perhaps we can have some quiet time?”  
“Hmm…okay. If you say so.”

And it worked.

Elisa was blissfully silent and everyone finally went back to their previous tasks once their odd show was over. She was still gripping onto his leg, but he would much rather deal with that than the noise. Any books he needed were within arm’s reach anyway.

“Varric told me—”  
“ _Hush._ ”

The next couple of hours pass in silence as Elisa keeps herself busy tracing the metal on his boots until Vivienne finally approaches him and hands him a flask full of a clear liquid.

“The tonic for Lady Umbra.”  
“Thank you.”

Dorian wastes no more time in shoving the flask into Elisa’s hands.

“No talking. Drink this.”

Elisa shrugs and uncorks the flask, chugs its contents, and slowly detaches herself from Dorian after a few moments. She gets to her feet sheepishly and clears her throat when the mage looks at her anxiously.

“I’ll…just sit over there…quietly.”  
Vivienne leaves the two once confirming the tonic worked and Dorian chuckles as he joins Elisa at his chair. “For what it’s worth, I like you much better the way you are.”  
Elisa turns slightly pink as she takes the chair by his and drapes her legs over the arm of his chair. “I’m sorry.”  
“Nothing to forgive pet. Just don’t take anything from the Chargers again.”  
“You have nothing to worry about.”

The two read for a few quiet minutes until Dorian looks up from his book and over at his sister.

“Do I really snore?”  
“Quietly…and only when you’re exhausted. Someone would have to be sleeping next to you to hear it.”  
The mage sighs. “I should warn Nolan.”  
“He knows.”  
“Wonderful.”

The young warrior smiles at the man’s exasperated appearance.


	3. Picking Up the Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very short somewhat angsty piece

She was well loved by the vast majority of Skyhold. Sure there were some people that were still wary of Elisa and it didn’t help that she was associated with Dorian. Some people were even hostile towards her but the cowards didn’t do or say anything when any of the inner circle was within earshot. She was kind and always willing to help someone in need, and the people envied her strength.

Dorian knew better.

The strength was just a front. No one knew the Elisa behind closed doors except him.

No one knew that she really had no concept of self-preservation. A soldier was stupid enough to try something one time, Cassandra had seen, and the Seeker came down on the man with a vengeance. Now they just insulted and harmed Elisa when no one was watching…and she said nothing. She let them. Dorian was furious when he discovered the true origins of bruises and small wounds, and even more so when she had merely brushed it off and said it was better her than someone else.

That had caused ‘The Incident’ as Nolan liked to call it.

Dorian had been extremely upset with her disregard to how she was being treated, and the two argued. Loudly. Both in Common tongue and Tevene. The argument didn’t end well and the two refused to speak to each other, and Elisa spent the next two weeks in Casandra’s room. On the third week, Nolan grew tired of their spat and took them to his room until they made up.

No one knew of her nightmares. How some nights she would wake with a terrified gasp, and that it would take a few minutes for her to gather herself. Dorian was woken every time and he would wait until she escaped the last haze of her nightmare before pulling her close and stroking her hair. It would take another half hour before she relaxed enough to fall back asleep.

Whether it was nightmares or dragon fire, he would protect her. Dragon fire was painful, but he had shielded her from it nonetheless. He had been severely burned from shoulder to hip, and to thank him (after yelling at him for being an idiot) Elisa dutifully applied salve to the burn whenever the pain flared up. It would scar, and Dorian was temporarily upset about the fact that he would no longer have a perfect body, but Nolan had grinned and said it only made him more attractive.

No one knew how fragile she really was. The pain she desperately tried to hide. Elisa clung to Dorian like a lifeline. He was the only one she could trust and let her guard down around. The only one she could go to when life threw one too many obstacles and she needed to be held and assured that she wasn’t alone anymore.

Andraste preserve him. He would do anything to be there for her. To protect Elisa from their unforgiving world. 

No one knew that Dorian took it upon himself to pick up the pieces of his sister’s delicate, yet very broken heart.


End file.
